It's All Politics

6:43 am

Mon March 26, 2012

Three days of historic Supreme Court arguments on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act started Monday in a case that could decide the fate of the controversial health-care law. A new CBS News/New York Times poll found that 47 percent of respondents opposed the law while 36 percent approved it.

President Obama was overheard on an open microphone during a security summit in South Korea telling Russian President Dmitri Medvedev that he would have "more flexibility" on missile-defense talks following the U.S. election, a moment that will undoubtedly be used by his Republican opponents to portray him as wobbly on security issues and a political cynic.

Rick Santorum's decisive win Saturday in Louisiana, which was expected, did little to change the dynamics of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Mitt Romney still holds a large delegate lead and Santorum still has no clear path to the nomination himself.

Santorum got somewhat salty with a New York Times reporter at a campaign stop in Wisconsin when the journalist asked Santorum to clarify a criticism of Romney. Santorum later used the moment to underscore his GOP bona fides. On Fox News he said: "If you haven't cursed out a New York Times reporter during the presidential campaign you aren't a real Republican,"

Former Vice President Dick Cheney received a heart transplant over the weekend. The transplant for the 71-year old whose history of cardiac problems goes back decades, raised questions because Cheney is significantly older than the typical heart-transplant patient.